Fire extinguishing apparatus



. Jan. 14, 1958 c. ANTHONY, JR

FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Filed April 5. 1956 ORNEY INVENTOR Chr/cs0/:

. GGIAPPARA'ITUS :Charles-.Anthony,Jr.,- East range, N. J., assignor toSpecialties Development Corporation,.Belleville, N. L,

a corporation of New Jersey Application April 5,1956, Serial No.576',389

4 :Claims; .(Cl.*.169+31) discharged therefrom as a.fiuid-. stream bygas,.under pressure, confined inthe extinguisher.

whenrsuch extinguishers are discharged, the pressure ofrthegas declinesas it expands into the space provided rby the expelled agent and is lesseffective to force out the agent, whereby the range of the stream isshortened, con- .,.siderably as the extinguisher is nearly empty.

7 In the extinguishment of fires, particularly burning liquids such asgasoline, it has been found that the initial discharge of theextinguisher tends to drive the fire back to a relatively confined area.If, due to local conditions, the operator is unable to physicallyadvance .on thefire, as the streamloses range, to completeextinguishment thereof,-the fire-will linger and subsequently flashback, particularly asthe agent and/or gaseous propellantis. nearlyexhausted.

In order to overcome the foregoingdifiiculty, it has been proposedvtoprovide a larger quantity of :gaseous propellant by confining thesame at a much higher initial pressure, but this resulted in the gasforcing its way through the. agent to the atmosphere duringthe stages ofinitial discharge, particularly in the case of dry powder agents,whereby the remaining gas was no more effective near the end ofdischarge-than the gas originally-confined at a lower pressure. Anotherobjection toconfining the gaseousprepellant at-much higherpressuresisthat the extinguisher must be stronger and thus is muchheavier.

Accordin ly, an-object of the present invention is to provide anextinguisher of the type described which is not subject to the foregoingdifficulti-es and hence is more eifective.

Another object is to provide such an extinguisher which has sufficientrange to knock down the fire and extinguish the same after it has beendriven back.

Another object is to accomplish the foregoing in a simple and economicalmanner without materially increasing the weight of the extinguisher.

Another object is to provide means for accomplishing the foregoing whichmay be operated manually and/or automatically.

A further object is to provide a novel method of extinguishing fire.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objectsgenerally are accomplished by causing the confined gaseous propellant toetfect initial discharge of the agent from its storage receptacle, and,after a predetermined reduction of the pressure in the extinguisher,preferably, to a predetermined value, supplying an additional quan- 2tity oflgaseous propellant,.wherehytthestream .gainsrange and is:effe.ctive .to.knockdownlhefirelin the later stages 3 -.of-.discharge'of.the.agent.

...- A..-preferred.- embodiment .of. theeinvention .hasrbeen 5. chosen.forspurposes of. illustrationand deseription,.and is shownin the:accompanying.drawing,.:forming apart of the specification, .-.wher.ein:

H Eig..1.is a.schematic,.longitudinal sectional viewtof anl..-extinguisher,1. in accordance. .vvith..-..the present... invention,

, l0 eillustratingthesame. in.=its .cha rgedscondition.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentarylongitudinalsectional Hview of theupper.portionoithe.:extinguisher, illustrating the. same .in the.latter. .stage :of..discharge.

Fig. 3 is a graph :illustratingthe.pressurefwithin-the extinguisherduring. the discharge. thereof.

. :Referring to Figs..1. and 2 of: thedrawingin detail, there is shown afire.extinguisher.which.essentiallyzcomprises a :receptacleor container10 fonconfining a fire extinguishing v agent and gasunder.pressure,.discharge means. Him the container, anauxiliary.-container.-:12 for confining compressed. gas andzzfluidflow..connection. means.14 between the containers-10 and .12.

As-shown in Fig...1, the container .10 has acy-lindrical Y..ohamber..151- provided:with an internally threaded neck 16 Q] -at:its .upper endanda-filling-opening at the bottom thereof elosedbyaplug17.-threadedly:securedtherein.a Suitable -rneans-=18 are providednear theanecktl6 forpressurizing the-chamber 15.

r The dischargeameans-:11.=ineludes .a-syphomtube .19 extendingupwardlyfrom near the bottomofthe chamber 2. J andthroughthe-aside-.of'thea.ehamber nearthe .upper tend thereof, 'a-fiexibledischargehose 20 connected": to the syphontube and a .discharge shield:21 having a discharge .'-control valve. 22.

The auxiliary container. :12. .has: an. internally threaded mn6ks24 atits, upper end andzsuita'ble, means 25 at-itslower end fort charging the;chainber:-provided= by the. container 2 with compressed gas. -As bestshown in Fig. .2, the fluid flow-connecting means i .1 =.-14?comprises.-a: body 26 having :apiston .boreI27, amaperturew28. at one :endconcentric-with the bore anda: threaded nipplec29 intermediate "its'endsr-which isrsecured into the wneck -16 of thecontainerlOtoprovideafiuid flow connec- 51ztienebetweenithe:chamberzlSvandZthe bore27. w. .A'c'ap 30 isnthreade'dly 1 secured Itoz: the :other::e'r1d of 1the body 26 which has .a-vraised seat r3la:facingsthei;bore 27 "and athreaded nipple 32 secured into the neck 24 of the auxiliary container12. A passageway 33 extends from the seat 31 to the nipple to provide afluid flow connection between the container 12 and the bore 27. A piston35 is slidably positioned in the bore 27 which has a seal 36 forengaging the seat 31 to close the passageway 33, a head 37 provided withgasket means 38 and a piston rod 39 connected to the head. The pistonrod has a section 40 of reduced diameter adjacent the head 37, a section41 of larger diameter which extends through the aperture 28, and a knob42 at the outer end of the section 41 for manually operating the piston.A gasket 44 provides a pressure tight seal 0 between the aperture 28 andthe rod section 41.

The container 10 is filled to the desired level with an extinguishingagent and is pressurized while the seal 36 is firmly seated on the seat31 as shown in Fig. 1. The auxiliary container 12 is then pressurizedand the extinguisher is ready for discharge. The piston 35 is retainedin this sealing position because the area thereof acted on by thepressure within the container 10 is much greater than the area thereofacted on by the pressure within the container 12. As a safetyprecaution, against gas which might leak between the seat 31 and theseal 36 and build up a pressure on this side of the piston capable ofmoving it out of its sealing position, a very small bleed port 45extends from adjacent the seat 31 to the exterior of the cap.

In operation, the discharge shield 21 is directed to the base of thefire and the valve 22 is opened. As the fire has been driven back to arestricted zone and the discharge pressure starts to decline in thecontainer 10, the piston 35 may be manually withdrawn by means of theknob 42 to unclose the passageway 33 and allow gas in the auxiliarycountainer to enter the chamber 15 and complete discharge of the agentat a bolstered pressure. When the piston is so retracted, the section411 of reduced diameter is positioned within the aperture 28, as shownin Fig. 2, to place the bore 27 in communication with the atmospherewhereby pressure cannot build up in back of the piston.

If desired, the diameters of the bore 27, the passage way 33 and the rodsection may be so proportioned with respect to the pressures initiallyin the containers 10 and 12 to cause an automatic release of the gas inthe auxil iary container when the pressure Within the chamber 15 hasdeclined to a predetermined value.

In Fig. 3, a typical pressure condition Within the chamber 15 during thedischarge period is illustrated graphically. Initially, the pressure hasa value of P1 as represented by the point a, and upon discharge of theextinguisher, this pressure declines to a value of P2, as represented bythe point b. The pressure drop from a to b usually takes place in abouthalf the time required to discharge the extinguisher completely. At thepoint b, the stream of fire extinguishing agent commences to lose rangeand effectiveness and it is at this point that the pressure within thechamber is boosted by either manual or automatic operation of thepiston, whereupon the pressure is restored to a value closelyapproaching P1, as represented by the point c, before it again declinesto a value of about P2 as represented by the point d. Thus, in thelatter stages of discharge, the stream has a range and force which iseflective to knock down the cornered fire, the pressure at the point dwhen the extinguisher is emptied being almost as great as at the point:5 which exists when the extinguisher is about half empty.

In the event the pressure is not boosted as in the past, it declinesfrom the point b to the point d, as represented by the broken line,andis completely ineffective to knock down the fire near the end ofdischarge.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the presentinvention provides a novel and highly effective manner of extinguishingflammable liquids which assures extinguishment of the fire without therequirement of great skill on the part of the operator.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and Without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in any limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a fire extinguisher, the combination of a receptacle having anormally closed discharge outlet, a given quantity of a non-gaseous fireextinguishing fluid confined in said receptacle, a gas confined in saidreceptacle in a quantity and at a pressure to effectively expelapproximately one half of said fluid upon opening of said dischargeoutlet and which gas after such discharge is reduced to a pressureincapable of etfectively expelling the remainder of said fluid, acontainer having an outlet, a gas entirely in gaseous state confined insaid container in a quantity and at a pressure to efiectively expel theremainder of said fluid, a fluid flow connection between said containeroutlet and the interior of said receptacle, and valve means in saidfluid flow connection constructed and arranged for fully closing saidfluid flow connection while said gas in said receptacle is at a pressureto effectively expel said fluid and for fully opening said fluid flowconnection when said gas in said receptacle is reduced to 21v pressureincapable of expelling said fluid, whereby said gas in said containerenters said receptacle and boosts the pressure therein to a value andfor a duration of time to efliectively expel the remainder of saidfluid.

2. A fire extinguisher according to claim 1, wherein said valve meansinclude a cylinder and a freely movable piston serving as a valvemember.

3. A fire extinguisher according to claim 2, wherein a manually operablemember is provided for moving said valve member from one position toanother.

4. A fire extinguisher according to claim 2, wherein said cylindercommunicates with said container at one end thereof and with saidreceptacle intermediate the ends thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,815,494 Camp July 21, 1931 2,430,470 Keefe et a1 Nov. 11, 19472,541,554 Smith Feb. 13, 1951 2,580,448 Mapes et al. Ian. 1, 19522,620,038 Somers et al. Dec. 2, 1952 2,764,246 Emmrich et al Sept. 25,1956

